There’s no getting away from the fact that Eurorack can be an expensive hobby, but not every purchase has to be a big one. Aside from the obvious patch cables, blank panels, mults and attenuators, there are plenty of interesting modules that come in at well under £100, and while you might not find many flashy oscillators, filters or effects at this price point, there are lots of tools and utilities that can bring a new dimension to your rack. Here are a few of our picks that are low on price but high on impact.

1. ALM Busy Circuits PE-1 (£81)

One of the more under-the-radar products in ALM’s catalogue is this two-band parametric EQ and simple two-channel mixer. Inspired by the EQ circuits used in early cassette-based Portastudios, the PE-1 is great for warming up a digital source, tweaking a feedback loop or extending a mixer.

2. Erica Synths Black XFade (£99)

From Erica’s premium 'Black' range and boasting a lovely big knob, this is a great solution for smooth manual or CV-controlled crossfading between two audio or CV signals. The inputs can boost as well as attenuate, letting you get really creative with your modulation or audio routing.

3. Doepfer A-130-8 Octal Linear VCA (£74)

To be honest, we could fill this list with Doepfer modules (that’s maybe a blog post for another day) but for sheer value the A-130-8 is hard to beat, even by their standards. ‘You can never have enough VCAs’ may be a cliche but it’s also true, so getting eight for under a tenner each - along with a trio of mixed outputs - is a real no-brainer.

4. Apollo View IOU (£99)

Comprehensive CV and audio signal processing is key when building a system, and this 2HP marvel from Apollo View will easily earn its keep. A DC offset slider offering up to +5V or +10V can be switched before or after an attenuverter for precise signal scaling and inversion. Dual polarity outputs round things off.

5. Transient Modules 4R (£88)

This is a super-simple but incredibly handy 2HP device with two normalled trigger inputs that each produce two unipolar or bipolar stepped random voltages. It’s great for bringing life to voices - just mult your envelope trigger to the 4R and feed its outputs to the parameters of your choice and get a different variation with every note.

6. AtoV Project Gaeto (£99)

Logic modules are a great way to spice up your trigger and gate patterns, and this unassuming device offers a range of functions based on its clock and data inputs. It can be a clock divider, legato generator, trigger to gate converter, rhythm quantiser, sub octave generator and more - it really rewards experimentation.

7. Shakmat Modular HiPass (£85)

A quad fixed frequency 3-pole high-pass filter that can make all the difference to your sound, especially if you play live. The first two channels roll off below 30Hz - great for processing your main stereo output and removing non-audible signals that limit your headroom. The other two channels are set at 100Hz, like a low-cut on a mixer.

8. Zlob Modular Diode Chaos (£74)

Looking to bring a touch of unpredictability to your modular system? Look no further than this 3HP chaotic voltage generator from the always intriguing Zlob. It produces three phases of interrelated morphing voltages including a chaotic trigger out, ranging from 20-30 seconds a cycle right up to audio rate.

9. Happy Nerding LED Meter (£100)

If you’ve got a 4HP slot to spare and you’re looking for a way to brighten up your rack a bit, then a 30-segment LED meter might be the answer. Each segment roughly corresponds to 1dB of level and you get a buffered copy of the input for onward signal flow. Visualising signals is always useful and this also looks very cool.

10. Winterbloom Big Honking Button (£92)

And finally… a big button that honks! This brilliantly bonkers module, available in six colours, is a simple sample player with pitch CV and gate in and out. Out of the box it’ll make a big old honking sound, but you can store up to 8MB of your own samples on it. What’s not to like?